When Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker announced that privatizing security at the courthouse and other county facilities would save taxpayers more than $750,000 a year, it seemed preposterous.
And it was.
According to new numbers crunched by the countys audit department, the county will save an estimated $411,000 per year from outsourcing some of its security to global giant G4S Wackenhut.
But the savings in 2010 are even less than that revised estimate: about $125,000.
Why? Because during the two-week transition period, county taxpayers were footing the bill for three security teams: county-employed security staff, sheriffs deputies (overtime costs ran to $29,000) and Wackenhut employees (an estimated $41,679). The county is also responsible for paying unemployment compensation for the displaced workers, who are now trying to find work during a recession. Even worse, the Wackenhut employee in charge of this team has now been removed, since he had five misdemeanor convictions in 2004.
Issue of the Week: Scott Walker’s Courthouse Security Privatization: Epic Fail
So Walker busted the unionized security guards and hired a Wackenhut employee with a criminal record to be in charge of security, and it didn't save that much money.
But there's more....
Now a judge has ruled that Walker's union busting was illegal, and the county has to hire all the old security guards back and with back pay.
So this is Walker's MO from before he was governor.
And it was.
According to new numbers crunched by the countys audit department, the county will save an estimated $411,000 per year from outsourcing some of its security to global giant G4S Wackenhut.
But the savings in 2010 are even less than that revised estimate: about $125,000.
Why? Because during the two-week transition period, county taxpayers were footing the bill for three security teams: county-employed security staff, sheriffs deputies (overtime costs ran to $29,000) and Wackenhut employees (an estimated $41,679). The county is also responsible for paying unemployment compensation for the displaced workers, who are now trying to find work during a recession. Even worse, the Wackenhut employee in charge of this team has now been removed, since he had five misdemeanor convictions in 2004.
Issue of the Week: Scott Walker’s Courthouse Security Privatization: Epic Fail
So Walker busted the unionized security guards and hired a Wackenhut employee with a criminal record to be in charge of security, and it didn't save that much money.
But there's more....
Now a judge has ruled that Walker's union busting was illegal, and the county has to hire all the old security guards back and with back pay.
So this is Walker's MO from before he was governor.